She didn't make it to her quarters as quickly as she'd intended to. As she was turning a corner, she found herself crashing into a young boy who had been running headlong down the hallway and not paying attention to where he was going. Only her quick reflexes – borrowed from Talon – stopped them both from crashing to the floor. She reached one hand out to steady him, and one hand out to grab the wall to support both of them.

"I'm sorry!" Came the quick apology of a child who has been caught doing something he knows he shouldn't be doing. Then he looked at her, realizing he didn't recognize her, and straightened even further, unsure if he was about to be chewed out or not. The stranger was wearing a uniform like Major Sheppard and the others sometimes wore, and all sorts of guns were hanging at her sides, making her look quite intimidating. "Who are you?"

"I'm Colonel Melony Mitchell, of the Stargate Command," she told him, drawing herself up a little straighter as well. She looked down at him – although she wasn't all that much taller than he was – and gave him as stern a look as she could manage. "You're a bit young to be one of the scientists from the Atlantis team, and I know I don't have anyone that young on any of the military teams, so you must be one of the..."

Athosians Talon supplied.

"Athosians..."

The boy nodded.

"I'm Jinto." He held out his hand, in the manner he'd seen Major Sheppard use as a greeting.

Mitchell took his hand and shook it, gracing the boy with a slight smile.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Jinto."

"You're Colonel Melony Mitchell?" He asked her.

"I am."

"What's a Colonel? Is it a rank like Major?"

"Yup."

"Is it higher?"

"Yup."

"So you outrank Major Sheppard?"

"Yup."

"So are you going to be in charge, then?"

"The jury's still out on that one," she told him, finally able to use more than one word to answer one of his questions.

"What's a jury?"

"It's a group of people who decide the outcome of a trial."

"You brought a group of people with you?" Jinto asked. "Any young people? Are they all Colonels? Can – "

"I didn't bring anyone else, Jinto," Mitchell told him, ignoring Talon's amusement. If the symbiote could laugh aloud, his voice would be pealing through the halls. "It's an expression. It means I haven't decided yet..."

"You're thinking about bringing a group of people –"

"No, boy, it means I haven't decided if I'm going to be in command here or not. It's still up in the air."

He looked up at the ceiling, and Mitchell couldn't help but smile.

"Not... that's another expression, Jinto."

"Oh."

"How old are you?"

"11. How old are you?"

"33."

"Is that older than Major Sheppard?"

"I don't know."

"Is it older than Doctor Weir?"

"I'm not sure."

"Oh." He paused. "How about Doctor McKay?"

"No clue." She held up her hand before he could name someone else. "I'm still new here, you know? I haven't had a chance to find out much about the people who are staying here."

"You're from Earth, right?"

She nodded.

"Teyla said that someone came through and brought supplies, but she said that the person was hurt. You don't look hurt to me."

"I got better."

"What happened to you?"

"Where are you parents?"

"My mother's dead, but my father's around here somewhere."

"Do you run around the place unsupervised often?"

"I'm not supposed to be running..." he wasn't sure what the word 'unsupervised' meant, so he wasn't sure how to answer that.

"Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

"No. Do you?"

"I had a brother. Does your father know where you are?"

"He's talking to Teyla right now."

"Where were you running to?"

"No place." He looked at the weapons in the holsters at her sides. "What's that?"

"It's a zat."

"Can I see it?"

"No. Can you help me with something, Jinto?"

"Sure, what?"

"I need to find Major Sheppard's quarters."

"I know where they are. But Major Sheppard's not there. I was just there a little bit ago and –"

"I don't need to talk to Major Sheppard, I just need to find his quarters. Mine are next to his, and I'm not positive I can find them."

She knew exactly where she was, but she figured the sooner she got to her rooms, the sooner she could end the inquisition. It was enjoyable talking to children, but it'd been a while since she'd done it, and the constant questions were making her head pound again, and this time Talon wasn't helping.

"Sure!"

He took off down the hall at a run, and Mitchell sighed.

"Jinto..."

He came to a stop and looked over his shoulder.

"Maybe we could go a little slower?"

"Sorry."

She smiled to soften the rebuke, and he fell into step beside her, not noticing that she didn't seem to be lost at all.

"What things do you like?" Jinto asked her as they walked.

"What things?"

"You know... things..." Jinto said. "Major Sheppard says he likes... football and something called a ferris wheel. Lieutenant Ford likes boxing and crossword puzzles and football... what do you like?"

"Ah..." She shrugged. "I like classic cars, the Green Bay Packers, and coffee."

"What's a car?"

"It's a ground based vehicle that burns a combustion engine to propel..." Mitchell trailed off, thinking of a dozen questions that definition might spawn. "It's a thing that you drive."

"Oh." He paused. "What's a Green Bay?"

"It's a city. Where I'm from."

"Oh." Another pause. "Is it green there?"

Talon gave a mental snort of amusement, and Melony rubbed her forehead, glad to see that they were in the final corridor to her quarters.

"Sometimes. Mostly it just snows a lot."

"Oh."

He pointed to Sheppard's door. "This one is Major Sheppard's."

"Then this one is mine," Mitchell said, pointing to hers. "I have some stuff to unpack, and some things to read, but it was really nice talking to you, Jinto."

He beamed with pleasure, even though it was obvious even to him that she was dismissing him.

"I'll see you again, won't I?" He asked.

"Most likely."

"It was nice talking to you, too," he told her. "I should go see if my father's done talking to Teyla yet."

"You do that." She wasn't sure who Teyla was, but she was more than willing to pawn the boy off on that person. At least for a while.

The boy took off – running, Mitchell noticed – and Melony sighed again, and palmed her door open. Maybe she'd take a quick nap before starting in on the reports. Talon was exhausted, and she was feeling a latent echo of that fatigue. Yeah. A nap was a great idea.